Worldwide Hearables Market Shares, 2021: Smaller Vendors Erode Apple and Samsung Hearables Market Shares in 2021

Apple accounted for 36.2% of the hearables market by volume in 2021, sparking upgrade demand with the launch of its third-generation AirPods late in the year. Samsung followed next with its range of Galaxy Buds Pro and Buds 2 devices. While both posted positive year-over-year growth, neither could keep up with the overall growth of the market. Instead, smaller vendors including Xiaomi and boAt - that nearly tied with each other by the end of the year - saw market-beating growth with further penetration into emerging markets. Rounding out the top 5 was Huawei, beating out a long list of challengers for the number 5 spot.This IDC study examines the 2021 market shares of the major vendors in the worldwide hearables market."Hearables continue to be the driver of the worldwide wearables market, and truly wireless hearables continue to be the driver of the overall hearables market," says Ramon T. Llamas, research director with IDC's Wearables team. "Strong demand during the pandemic sustained into 2021 with the launch of new devices up and down the spectrum, even as feature sets remained mostly the same. Still, strong growth in the market portends steady replacements in the years to come and will draw more first-time users and vendors.